musk deer

File:Porte musc global.jpg

Musk deer resemble small deer, with a stocky build and hind legs longer than their front legs. They are about {{convert|80|to|100|cm|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|50|to|70|cm|abbr=on}} high at the shoulder, and weigh between {{convert|7|and|17|kg|abbr=on}}. The feet of musk deer are adapted for climbing in rough terrain. Like the Chinese water deer, a cervid, they have no antlers, but the males do have enlarged upper canines, forming sabre-like tusks. The dental formula is similar to that of true deer: {{DentalFormula|upper=0.1.3.3|lower=3.1.3.3}}

The musk gland is found only in adult males. It lies in a sac located between the genitals and the umbilicus, and its secretions are most likely used to attract mates.

Musk deer are herbivores, living in hilly, forested environments, generally far from human habitation. Like true deer, they eat mainly leaves, flowers, and grasses, with some mosses and lichens. They are solitary animals and maintain well-defined territories, which they scent mark with their caudal glands. Musk deer are generally shy and either nocturnal or crepuscular.

Males leave their territories during the rutting season and compete for mates, using their tusks as weapons. In order to indicate their area, musk deer build latrines. These locations can be used to identify the musk deer's existence, number, and preferred habitat in the wild.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Female musk deer give birth to a single fawn after about 150–180 days. The newborn young are very small and essentially motionless for the first month of their lives, a feature that helps them remain hidden from predators.{{cite book |veditors=Macdonald D |chapter=Deer |vauthors=Frädrich H |title=The Encyclopedia of Mammals |year=1984 |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofma00mals_0/page/518 518–9] |isbn=978-0-87196-871-5 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofma00mals_0/page/518 }}

Musk deer have been hunted for their scent glands, which are used in perfumes. The glands can fetch up to $45,000/kg on the black market.{{clarify|reason=as of when?|date=November 2022}} It is rumored that ancient royalty wore the scent of the musk deer, and that it is an aphrodisiac.Wild Russia, Discovery Channel{{full citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Musk deer have a global population between 400,000 and 800,000 currently; however, the exact count is undetermined.{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=Michael J.B. |date=1986 |title=The distribution, status and conservation of the Himalayan musk deer Moschus chrysogaster |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0006320786900947 |journal=Biological Conservation|volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=347–375 |doi=10.1016/0006-3207(86)90094-7 |bibcode=1986BCons..35..347G }} They are widely spread; however, their population density increases within China, Russia, and Mongolia. Musk deer are commonly found in China, and they are spread over 17 provinces.{{Cite journal |last1=Meng |first1=X |last2=Yang |first2=Q |date=March 2003 |title=Conservation status and causes of decline of musk deer (Moschus spp.) in China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320702001593#preview-section-abstract |journal=Biological Conservation|volume=109 |issue=3 |pages=333–342 |doi=10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00159-3 |bibcode=2003BCons.109..333Y }}{{Cite journal |first1=Yijun |last1=Zhou |first2=Xiuxiang |last2=Meng |first3=Jinchao |last3=Feng |first4=Qisen |last4=Yang |first5=Zuojian |last5=Feng |first6=Lin |last6=Xia |first7=Luděk |last7=Bartoš |date=June 8, 2004 |title=Review of the distribution, status and conservation of musk deer in China |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230561092 |journal=Folia Zoologica-Praha |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=129–140 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Gang |last2=Zhang |first2=Bao-Feng |last3=Chang |first3=Jiang |last4=Hu |first4=Xiao-Long |last5=Li |first5=Chao |last6=Xu |first6=Tin-Tao |last7=Liu |first7=Shu-Qiang |last8=Hu |first8=De-Fu |date=2022-09-23 |title=Population genomics reveals moderate genetic differentiation between populations of endangered Forest Musk Deer located in Shaanxi and Sichuan |journal=BMC Genomics |language=en |volume=23 |issue=1 |page=668 |doi=10.1186/s12864-022-08896-9 |doi-access=free |issn=1471-2164 |pmc=9503231 |pmid=36138352}} This population is mainly located around the Himalayas in southern Asia, southeast Asia, and eastern Asia. They are also found in a few spots in Russia. As of 2003, they became a protected species due to their declined overall population. Musk deer have many subspecies that have varying population sizes, within the overall total, and all are threatened. Over the past twenty years, the populations have been able to slightly recover due to the captive breeding of these animals, specifically in China. Musk deer populations are recovering due to the protocols and rules being set in place to protect the species.

The musk deer species is generally solitary and lives in the higher regions of mountain ranges, such as the Himalayas. The varying species' habitats include different atmospheres and necessary resources for their survival, while including similar universal resources. Musk deer population has been declining recently due to environmental and human factors. As a large-bodied mammal, they have great needs that are not able to be sustained due to habitat fragmentation.{{Cite journal |last1=Zhixiao |first1=Liu |last2=Helin |first2=Sheng |date=2002-03-01 |title=Effect of Habitat Fragmentation and Isolation on the Population of Alpine Musk Deer |url=https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014456909480 |journal=Russian Journal of Ecology |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=121–124 |doi=10.1023/A:1014456909480 |issn=1608-3334}} This species is largely protected due to the threat of extinction, due to the increase in illegal hunting. Illegal hunting has significantly decreased the population throughout many of the provinces musk deer occupy. Their habitats are being lost to colonization and deforestation and hunting for musk deer was on the rise. They were hunted for their distinct products that are very valuable in the market. Since then, the Chinese government has stepped in to regulate these issues. They have placed rules pertaining to the killing of musk deer and created havens for the deer to survive. To help with the declining numbers, the deforestation of their natural habitat should be stopped and new habitats should be invested in them. Global climate change has also driven the musk deer population down. The warmer climates result in the drive to higher elevations and latitudes.{{Cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Feng |last2=Zhang |first2=Jingjie |last3=Gao |first3=Hongmei |last4=Cai |first4=Zhenyuan |last5=Zhou |first5=Xiaowen |last6=Li |first6=Shengqing |last7=Zhang |first7=Tongzuo |date=February 2020 |title=Musk deer (Moschus spp.) face redistribution to higher elevations and latitudes under climate change in China |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=704 |pages=135335 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135335 |pmid=31784177 |bibcode=2020ScTEn.70435335J |issn=0048-9697|doi-access=free }} Global warming and habitat fragmentation are two causes for the population decrease.

File:Zwerghirsch-Micromeryx-Skelett.jpg showing the general skeletal features]]

Musk deer are the only surviving members of the Moschidae, a family with a fossil record extending over 25 million years to the late Oligocene. The group was abundant across Eurasia and North America until the late Miocene, but underwent a substantial decline, with no Pliocene fossil record and Moschus the only genus since the Pleistocene. The oldest records of the genus Moschus are known from the Late Miocene (Turolian) of Lufeng, China.G. Qi. 1985. Stratigraphic summarization of Ramapithecus fossil locality, Lufeng, Yunnan. Acta Anthropologica Sinica (Renleixue xuebao) 4(1): 55–69

{{for|a complete taxonomy|Moschidae}}While they have been traditionally classified as members of the deer family (as the subfamily "Moschinae") and all the species were classified as one species (under Moschus moschiferus), recent studies have indicated that moschids are more closely related to bovids (antelope, goats, sheep and cattle).{{cite journal | vauthors = Hassanin A, Douzery EJ | title = Molecular and morphological phylogenies of ruminantia and the alternative position of the moschidae | journal = Systematic Biology | volume = 52 | issue = 2 | pages = 206–28 | date = April 2003 | pmid = 12746147 | doi = 10.1080/10635150390192726 | doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Guha S, Goyal SP, Kashyap VK | title = Molecular phylogeny of musk deer: a genomic view with mitochondrial 16S rRNA and cytochrome b gene | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 42 | issue = 3 | pages = 585–97 | date = March 2007 | pmid = 17158073 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.06.020 | bibcode = 2007MolPE..42..585G }}

File:Moschus berezovskii - Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology - DSC02453.JPG|Dwarf musk deer

File:Moschus fuscus - Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology - DSC02455.JPG|Black musk deer

File:Moschus chrysogaster.jpg|Alpine musk deer

• Vampire deer

{{reflist|25em}}

{{Artiodactyla|R.}}

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Category:Mammals of Asia

Category:Extant Miocene first appearances

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus